Sunday, December 01, 2013

Nothing too exiting to read here, I’m
really just updating to keep this blog just a little bit better than completely
dead and to link to my latest and greatest over at SNG Planet. That is where I
am blogging nowadays. Still have fond memories of the innocent days which went
with the start of this blog… poker was shiney and new and not bastardized by business
for me back then. Now the fact that I have to think about it every day, and
face the brutal realities of how dirty a business it is, taints the enjoyment
so much that I sometimes wonder if it is worth bothering!

Sorry, bit gloomy.

Actually, I still enjoy my occasional
tournament nights.

Find Zoom PLO to be very relaxing (3+
tables required to properly shut out the outside world).

Latest Innovations Over At SNG Planet

Newest of all is a fantastic new widget.
This is our Poker Loyalty Program Calculator, and it compares the loyalty
points-collection type schemes at different sites. At the moment we only have
the non-US sites in there (Party, Stars, Tilt, Titan, 888 and OnGame’s Red
Kings). Phase 2 will follow in the new year and add in the US sites… speaking
of which…

US Sites

Lock, ah Lock, I had such high hopes that
you would genuinely shake up the US market back towards the start of the year.

After breaking off with Carbon and becoming their rival, after recruiting some ‘C’
level poker celebs to represent your brand, after showcasing the Stadiums Tour…
after all those claims that ‘this time it would be different’.

Alas, it appears it was not to be.

Cashouts were the killer.

Calling it a ‘backlog’ does not really do
things justice. It makes this sound like some niggling minor issue, when in
fact there are players waiting 6+ months for their poker bankrolls to come
back. When there are people who trusted this site with their money who have
been left in limbo.

Now Lock have left the revolution network
(with some drama) and are attempting to go it alone.

They just lost 3/4ths or more of their
players, and are still not paying back the huge majority of people.

I was patient.

I wanted Lock to succeed.

I wanted to write about the payment issues
getting solved, and a real rival to Bovada (now the biggest US site) and Carbon
(Merge Network, my favorite, with their bigger tournaments / sngs focus).

The reality is that if Lock survive at all
it will be as a shadow of their promised self. Just another US site scratching
together a few players to get by.

What a shame, a damn shame.

Quick, Cheer It Up Mark – There Must Be
Some Good Stuff Going On

Lots of promos in December, as the poker
sites bring out their festive best. Some great ideas too Winter-Warmers, turbo
SNG races and more… then along come PokerStars.

Haha.

As far as December promos are concerned,
PokerStars climbed up a stepladder, took down their pants and shat, hard, on
everyone’s head.

Yep – their ‘December Festival’ is that
good!

I will not turn this post into one of the
many so called blogs which just mimic the poker news and promos. A couple of
words will surely suffice. $5m Sunday Million, Golden SNGs, Missions, Milestone
hands and a ‘mini’ tournament series with $10m in gtd prizes (which is far
bigger than the biggest events which their rivals can offer!).

I’m going to have my last major blow-out of
the year on the 8th Dec, when the $1 million Sunday Storm and $5
Million Sunday million both run… wish me luck! (or even better, check out my
PokerStars Review Here, sign-up, and then lose your stack to me at the final
table!).

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